2 
JOURNAL  OP  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
January  7,  1897. 
display,  for  such  is  not  expected  of  yon,  nor  ia  it  desirable  ;  fit 
your  ideas  into  the  homely<garments  of  our  mother  tongue,  and  we 
— elders— shall  admire  them  more  than  in  the  grandest  dress  you 
might  strain  to  engarb  them. 
One  must  in  these  desultory  thoughts  shunt  on  to  side  tracks — 
feeders  to  the  main  line  on  which  the  Journal  of  Horticulture  has 
run  so  ably  and  so  long.  It  is  now  approaching  a  stage  of  some 
importance  in  its  career,  scarcely  of  secondary  importance  to  us  as 
gardeners  than  in  this  newborn  year  with  its  bright  anticipations  of 
the  sixtieth  celebration  of  Her  Majesty’s  glorious  reign  to  us  as 
loyal  subjects.  When  the  tale  of  this  year  is  told  the  Journal  of 
Horticulture  will  have  entered  upon  its  jubilee— a  golden  wedding 
of  literature  with  horticulture  ;  and  whether  as  readers  or  as  writers, 
or  both  combined,  we  cannot  but  feel  the  hope  which  it  is  not 
premature  to  now  express,  that  we  may  then  bid  “  Hail  to  the 
Chief  ”  whose  banner  bears  the  motto  “  For  Gardening  and  for 
Gardeners.” 
To  look  back  upon  the  vast  amount  of  horticultaral  literature 
as  exemplified  in  those  goodly  arrayed  volumes  of  the  Journal  of 
Horticulture  one  might  momentarily  suppose  that  all  that  could  be 
said  for  or  about  gardening  ha*  been  said,  but  the  slightest 
reflection  shows  the  absurdity  of  such  a  thought.  I  once  heard  it 
remarked  that  “  The  gardener  is  a  man  who  is  never  satisfied  ;  first 
he  wants  more  glass,  then  he  wants  more  plants,  then  again  he 
wants  more  glass  and  so  ad  infinitum."  In  this  direction  the 
limit  might  probably  be  found,  although  there  are  a  few  men  I 
know  who,  if  the  whole  garden  were  enroofed  with  glass,  would  want 
a  little  cool  Orchid  house  or  something  of  that  ilk  fixed  on  the 
wrong  (or  right)  side  of  the  garden  wall.  However,  be  that  as  it 
may,  there  are  no  limits  so  far  as  one  can  see  to  learning  or  to  the 
teaching  of  the  Journal,  and  the  planting  within  its  perennial 
borders  must  still  go  on  for  the  advancement  of  gardening  and 
gardeners  present  and  to  come. 
“  This  year  will  be  a  great  year  in  London,  and  you  must  go,” 
says  a  friend.  He  spoke  in  the  imperative  mood,  which  must  give 
place  to  the  conditional;  but,  seriously,  we  have  good  grounds 
for  hoping  and  believing  that  it  will  be  a  great  year  in  London 
and  beyond,  stretching  far  away  over  that  Empire  on  which  the 
sun  never  sets.  The  relevancy  of  it  to  these  thoughts  consists  of 
what  has  been  advanced  in  these  pages  whereby  horticulture  may 
worthily  join  in  celebrating  Her  Majesty’s  longrrign.  Far  be  it 
from  me  to  suppose  that  any  thoughts  of  mine  would  materially 
aid  the  matter  any  more  thaa  that  my  presence  in  London  as  a 
loyal  unit  would  affect  the  vast  sum  who  will  delight  to  honour 
our  revered  Sovereign. 
I  had  thought  there  were  good  reasons  why  a  Gardeners’  Club 
should  be  considered  upon  its  merits,  but  “  good  reasons  must  of 
force  give  place  to  better.”  Moreover,  those  thoughts  were,  I  fear, 
rather  prompted  by  selfish  considerations  than  regarded  in  that 
strong  light  with  which  a  broad  subject  should  be  viewed.  Any¬ 
way,  some  sound  practical  logic  has  been  advanced  per  contra  which 
had  not  entered  into  my  somewhat  hasty  and  hazy  calculation. 
Whilst  endeavouring  to  avoid  entering  npon  debateable  ground,  or, 
indeed,  fling  any  challenge  into  it,  permission  is  asked  to  show  that 
this  passing  dream  is  not  entirely  shattered  by  the  shafts  of  better 
marksmen.  Undoubtedly  Mr.  Wood’s  great  scheme  is  one  born 
of  no  hasty  conclusions.  It  is,  indeed,  “too  great  for  haste,  too 
high  for  rivalry,”  therefore  too  far  removed,  not  from  its  object, 
but  from  humbler  propositions  to  provoke  invidious  comparison. 
Man,  as  we  know,  is  not  only  a  gregarious  animal,  but  clings  to 
that  order  of  his  species  to  which  he  belongs,  hence  a  gardener  in 
Lon  Ion  town  may  feel  a  little  of  what  I  have  felt  on  few  and  far 
between  visits — viz.,  isolated  in  that  great  agglomeration  of  humanity. 
In  this  case  it  is  not  a  question  ot  board,  lodging,  and  entertain¬ 
ment,  nor  need  that  be  ignored  ;  but  it  is  a  question  of  the  enjoy¬ 
ment  of  those  privileges  which  communion  of  fellowship  entails  ; 
and  a  gardener’s  club  might  well  afford  this  and  more  also  under 
the  protective  agency  of  sound  rules  of  membership,  of  which 
parallel  instances  are  afforded  in  other  phases  of  life.  I  feel  that 
there  is  a  great  deal  more  which  might  be  advanced  in  its  favour  ; 
I  know  there  is  probably  as  much  which  could  be  said  against 
it ;  but  still  venture  to  think  that  the  latter  cannot  entirely 
neutralise  an  idea  which,  however  crude,  is  capable  of  being 
polished  into  something  more  pleasing,  something  more  tangible. 
“  D.,  Deal' a,”  kindly  greeting  and  the  address  “  To  Our  Readers” 
are  the  sparks  which  have  fired  this  train  of  thoughts  (more  smoke 
than  fire  perhaps),  yet  ere  extinguished  by  the  editorial  foot  one 
would  fain  fan  the  dead  past  in  order  to  gain  a  little  light  for  the 
future.  The  weather  record  of  1896  is  to  some  extent  remarkable, 
but  not  sufficiently  so,  I  think,  to  render  the  year  conspicuous  in 
history,  for  its  character,  whilst  not  being  very  good,  can  hardly  be 
termed  very  bad.  To  sum  up,  it  has  been  what  may  be  called 
trying — trying  to  gardeners,  finding  out  their  weak  points,  and 
surely  trying  to  those  who,  as  weather  prophets,  venture,  or  rather 
attempt,  to  predict  it ;  and  how  often  are  they  tried  and  found 
wanting.  Some  remarkable  instances  could  be  given  to  illustrate 
the  utter  futility  of  endeavouring  to  bring  this  apparently  ungovern¬ 
able  factor  withia  the  limits  of  human  prescience — that  is  to  any 
appreciable  extent.  What  better  data  could  be  afforded  than  the 
waning,  weeping  days  of  the  dear  defunct  1896  ?  True,  we  are  not 
yet  out  of  the  wood,  and  may  be  as  near  to  Arctic  severity  as 
Nansen  was  to  the  Pole,  but  to-day  the  bairns  have  brought  in 
blooms  of  the  Coltsfoot,  which  were  revealed  to  them  by  the 
delicate  Heliotrope  perfume,  and  the  precocious  Primrose  has 
furnished  our  local  paper  with  the  proverbial  letter  on  the  mildness 
of  the  season.  This,  too,  after  much  shaking  of  old  heads  over 
the  abnormal  crop  of  berries,  and  dire  predictions  measured  by  the 
extent  of  the  crop. 
There  are  so  many  texts  furnished  directly  or  indirectly  by  the 
New  Year’s  number  that  one  might  go  on  and  on,  only  there  would 
not  be  room  in  the  present  one.  How  easy  it  is  to  follow  a  good 
leader ;  long  may  he  be  spared  to  introduce  other  New  Years  as 
ably  as  he  introduced  this  year  of  glorious  hope,  hopefully  pointing 
the  way,  gently  vibrating  the  chords  and  pen  of — Auld  Lang 
Syne. 
Mb.  C.  Harman  Payne, 
We  have  pleasure  in  giving  the  portrait  of  this  diligent  Chrys- 
anthemumist  (fig.  2)  as  caught  in  his  travelling  cap  by  the  kodac  at 
Charing  Cross  just  when  he  had  taken  an  insurance  ticket  for  the 
Continent.  He  has  been  the  editor  of  all  the  N.C.S.  catalogues  since 
1886,  and  was,  we  believe,  appointed  Foreign  Secretary  of  the  Society, 
on  the  proposition  of  Mr.  Holmes,  in  1888.  As  is  well  known  by  most 
of  his  personal  friendB  he  is  a  member  of  most  if  not  all  the  French 
Chrysanthemum  societies,  also  of  the  French  Horticultural  Society  of 
London,  and  speaks  French  like  a  native.  Besides  contributing  to 
the  Journal  of  Horticulture  and  other  English  gardening  as  well  as 
American  papers,  the  ready  pen  of  “  P.”  has  also  assisted  American, 
Belgian  and  French  authors  in  compiling  books  on  the  Chrysanthemum, 
and  it  is  said  he  will  never  be  happy  till  he  can  pass  an  examination 
in  Japanese. 
If  we  remember  rightly  Mr.  C.  H.  P.  was  awarded  silver-gilt  medals 
at  the  Lyons  and  Grenoble  Chrysanthemum  shows  for  a  collection  of 
coloured  engravings  pertaining  to  the  golden  flower,  and  he  has  been 
the  recipient  of  many  other  honours  which  we  cannot  remember  ;  but 
a  few  occur.  M.  Anatole  Cordonnier  dedicated  his  book  “  Le  Chrys* 
antheme  a  la  Grande  Fleur,”  to  “  C.  Harman  Payne.”  '  And  in  June 
last  his  portrait  was  published  in  the  “  Nord  Horticole,”  with  several 
pages  of  biographical  notice  from  a  French  point  of  view,  as  an 
accomplished  amateur.  Mr.  Payne  edited  the  Jubilee  edition  of  the 
N.C.S.  official  catalogue,  and  was  awarded  a  Jubilee  silver  medal  for  his 
services.  That  was  good,  but  something  better  followed,  for  he  was 
recently  appointed  Chevalier  de  VOrdre  de  la  Merits  Agricole  by  the 
French  Government  for  his  literary  services,  as  witness  the  distinguished 
decoration  (fig.  1). 
Then  in  December,  just  gone,  our  friend  was  awarded  a  gold  Jubilee 
medal  by  the  General  Committee  of  the  N.C.S.,  and  an  illuminated 
